Valuing the bowling alley: Contestations over the preservation of spaces of everyday urban multiculture in London

Jackson, Emma. 2019. Valuing the bowling alley: Contestations over the preservation of spaces of everyday urban multiculture in London. The Sociological Review, 67(1), pp. 79-94. ISSN 0038-0261 [Article]

[img]
Preview
Text
Valuing the bowling alley (with corrections).pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.

Download (224kB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

This paper builds on ‘the convivial, everyday turn’ (Neal et al, 2013) by approaching the workings of complex urban spaces of multiculture as entangled with processes of urban change that are infused with judgments and contestations about what is of value. This paper explores the competing value claims made for a leisure space, a London bowling alley, used by a diverse group of people (in terms of dis/ability, ethnicity, gender, class and age) that has been threatened with demolition. The paper examines how arguments about diversity and inclusivity are deployed in these debates and how official discourses are resisted through the mobilisation of other articulations of social value. The paper argues that the combination of the hollowing out of the concept of diversity and the political and economic context results in a paradox whereby multiculturalism is celebrated as an atmosphere and generator of capital while existing physical spaces of everyday urban multiculture are at best unprotected and at worst not recognised, devalued and demolished.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118772784

Keywords:

Diversity, Leisure, London, Urban multiculture, Value

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Sociology > Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR)

Dates:

DateEvent
13 January 2018Accepted
27 April 2018Published Online
1 January 2019Published

Item ID:

22775

Date Deposited:

16 Jan 2018 10:28

Last Modified:

29 Apr 2020 16:43

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/22775

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)